[1]
Typing Performance of Blind Users: An Analysis of Touch Behaviors, Learning
Effect, and In-Situ Usage
Text Input
/
Nicolau, Hugo
/
Montague, Kyle
/
Guerreiro, Tiago
/
Rodrigues, André
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Seventeenth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and
Accessibility
2015-10-26
p.273-280
© Copyright 2015 ACM
Summary: Non-visual text-entry for people with visual impairments has focused mostly
on the comparison of input techniques reporting on performance measures, such
as accuracy and speed. While researchers have been able to establish that
non-visual input is slow and error prone, there is little understanding on how
to improve it. To develop a richer characterization of typing performance, we
conducted a longitudinal study with five novice blind users. For eight weeks,
we collected in-situ usage data and conducted weekly laboratory assessment
sessions. This paper presents a thorough analysis of typing performance that
goes beyond traditional aggregated measures of text-entry and reports on
character-level errors and touch measures. Our findings show that users improve
over time, even though it is at a slow rate (0.3 WPM per week). Substitutions
are the most common type of error and have a significant impact on entry rates.
In addition to text input data, we analyzed touch behaviors, looking at touch
contact points, exploration movements, and lift positions. We provide insights
on why and how performance improvements and errors occur. Finally, we derive
some implications that should inform the design of future virtual keyboards for
non-visual input.
[2]
Workshop on Interactivity in Healthcare Systems (IHS)
Workshops
/
Hanson, Vicki
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Webster, Gemma
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Dennis, Matt
Proceedings of IFIP INTERACT'15: Human-Computer Interaction, Part IV
2015-09-14
v.4
p.677-678
Keywords: Healthcare; Interactivity; eHealth; Healthy living
© Copyright 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
Summary: We are all living longer with average life expectancy increasing across the
globe [1]. However, chronic conditions such as heart disease, strokes and
cancer, coupled with an increasing global obesity problem still cause a growing
number of premature deaths [1]. These conditions combined with an aging
population cause a huge strain on healthcare provision.
[3]
HoliBraille: multipoint vibrotactile feedback on mobile devices
Wearables, tactiles and mobiles
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Nicolau, Hugo
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Montague, Kyle
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Guerreiro, Tiago
/
Rodrigues, André
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Proceedings of the 2015 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web
Accessibility (W4A)
2015-05-18
p.30
© Copyright 2015 ACM
Summary: We propose HoliBraille, a system that enables Braille input and output on
current mobile devices. We use vibrotactile motors combined with dampening
materials in order to actuate directly on users' fingers. The prototype can be
attached to current capacitive touchscreen devices enabling multipoint and
localized feedback. HoliBraille can be leveraged in several applications
including educational tools for learning Braille, as a communication device for
deaf-blind people, and as a tactile feedback system for multitouch Braille
input. We conducted a user study with 12 blind participants on Braille
character discrimination. Results show that HoliBraille is effective in
providing localized feedback; however, character discrimination performance is
strongly related with number of simultaneous stimuli. We finish by discussing
the obtained results and propose future research avenues to improve multipoint
vibrotactile perception.
[4]
Computing for humans
Keynote address
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Hanson, Vicki L.
Sixteenth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and
Accessibility
2014-10-20
p.1
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: In his editorial on Computing for Humans, Vardi [1] discusses computing as
being an "instrument of the human mind," having the primary goal to enhance
what we as humans are able to do. Nowhere is such a computing goal more evident
than in the field of accessibility where we seek to create devices and software
to serve people with extreme needs. In creating novel accessibility tools,
research has advanced the state of the art in many areas from design of
environmental spaces, to physical interfaces, to software aspects of computing.
There are several cross-cutting issues that accessibility research can
address. For example, there are issues of language and communication.
Communication is fundamental to being human. People who have hearing loss,
aphasia, cerebral palsy, autism, or dyslexia are among those who experience
communication difficulties. How can we drive computing forward to provide
solutions for these communication problems? Mobility and independence are other
important issues. People with visual impairments, cognitive disability, or
physical impairment often face difficulties in independent navigation. How can
technology help?
The needs of users can and should inform the agenda for new research in
areas such as augmented memory, physical interactions, and human communication.
[5]
A large user pool for accessibility research with representative users
Practices and tools
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Dee, Marianne
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Hanson, Vicki L.
Sixteenth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and
Accessibility
2014-10-20
p.35-42
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: A critical element of accessibility research is the exploration and
evaluation of ideas with representative users. However, it is often difficult
to recruit these users, particularly in a timely manner. In this paper we
report on the establishment of a large user pool created to facilitate
accessibility research through recruiting sizeable numbers of older adults
potentially interested in taking part in research studies about technology.
Lessons learned from creating and maintaining this pool of individuals are
reported.
[6]
Buildings and users with visual impairment: uncovering factors for
accessibility using BIT-Kit
Practices and tools
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McIntyre, Lesley J.
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Hanson, Vicki L.
Sixteenth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and
Accessibility
2014-10-20
p.59-66
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: In this paper, we report on the experiences of visually impaired users in
navigating buildings. We focus on an investigation of the way-finding
experiences by 10 participants with varying levels of visual ability, as they
undertook a way-finding task in an unfamiliar public building. Through applying
the BIT-Kit framework in this preliminary user study, we were able to uncover
54 enabling and disabling interactions within the case study building. While
this building adhered to building legislation, our findings identified a number
of accessibility problems including, issues associated with using doors,
hazards caused by building finishes, and difficulty in knowing what to do in
the case of an emergency evacuation. This user study has demonstrated a
disparity between design guidance and the accessibility needs of building
users. It has uncovered evidence to enable architects to begin to design for
the real needs of users who have a range of visual impairment. Furthermore, it
has instigated discussion of how BIT-Kit's evidence could be incorporated into
digital modelling tools currently used in architectural practice.
[7]
Motor-impaired touchscreen interactions in the wild
Interaction
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Montague, Kyle
/
Nicolau, Hugo
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Sixteenth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and
Accessibility
2014-10-20
p.123-130
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: Touchscreens are pervasive in mainstream technologies; they offer novel user
interfaces and exciting gestural interactions. However, to interpret and
distinguish between the vast ranges of gestural inputs, the devices require
users to consistently perform interactions inline with the predefined location,
movement and timing parameters of the gesture recognizers. For people with
variable motor abilities, particularly hand tremors, performing these input
gestures can be extremely challenging and impose limitations on the possible
interactions the user can make with the device. In this paper, we examine
touchscreen performance and interaction behaviors of motor-impaired users on
mobile devices. The primary goal of this work is to measure and understand the
variance of touchscreen interaction performances by people with
motor-impairments. We conducted a four-week in-the-wild user study with nine
participants using a mobile touchscreen device. A Sudoku stimulus application
measured their interaction performance abilities during this time. Our results
show that not only does interaction performance vary significantly between
users, but also that an individual's interaction abilities are significantly
different between device sessions. Finally, we propose and evaluate the effect
of novel tap gesture recognizers to accommodate for individual variances in
touchscreen interactions.
[8]
Age, technology usage, and cognitive characteristics in relation to
perceived disorientation and reported website ease of use
Communication
/
Crabb, Michael
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Sixteenth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and
Accessibility
2014-10-20
p.193-200
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: Comparative studies including older and younger adults are becoming more
common in HCI, generally used to compare how these two different age groups
will approach a task. However, it is unclear whether user "age" is the
underlying factor that differentiates between these two groups. To address this
problem, an examination into the relationship between users' age, previous
technology experience, and cognitive characteristics is conducted. Measures of
perceived disorientation and reported ease of use are used to understand links
that exist between these user characteristics and their effect on browsing
experience. This is achieved through a lab-based information retrieval task,
where participants visited a selection of websites in order to find answers to
a series of questions and then self reported their feelings of perceived
disorientation and website ease of use through a Likert-scored questionnaire.
The presented research found that age accounts for as little as 1% of user
browsing experience when performing information retrieval tasks. Further, it
showed that cognitive ability and previous technology experience significantly
affected perceived disorientation in these searches. These results argue for
the inclusion of metrics regarding cognitive ability and previous technology
experience when analyzing user satisfaction and performance in Internet
based-studies.
[9]
Older adults interaction with broadcast debates
Poster abstracts
/
Medellin-Gasque, Rolando
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Reed, Chris
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Hanson, Vicki
Sixteenth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and
Accessibility
2014-10-20
p.269-270
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: The constant emergence and change of current technologies in the form of
digital products and services can cause certain groups of the population to
feel excluded. Older adults represent one such group. Our research combines
computational models of argument and human-centric computing to impact the way
in which older adults interact with broadcast debates. We present a preliminary
user study where older adults interact with a debate and propose an application
which uses speech recognition to classify spoken utterances and related them to
segmented debates. Moreover, we discuss preliminary results on older adults
interacting with the application in pilot experiments.
[10]
Phoneme-based predictive text entry interface
Text entry challenge abstracts
/
Trinh, Ha
/
Waller, Annalu
/
Vertanen, Keith
/
Kristensson, Per Ola
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Sixteenth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and
Accessibility
2014-10-20
p.351-352
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: Phoneme-based text entry provides an alternative typing method for
nonspeaking individuals who often experience difficulties in orthographic
spelling. In this paper, we investigate the application of rate enhancement
strategies to improve the user performance of phoneme-based text entry systems.
We have developed a phoneme-based predictive typing system, which employs
statistical language modeling techniques to dynamically reduce the phoneme
search space and offer accurate word predictions. Results of a case study with
a nonspeaking participant demonstrated that our rate enhancement strategies led
to improved text entry speed and error rates.
[11]
B#: chord-based correction for multitouch braille input
Novel keyboards
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Nicolau, Hugo
/
Montague, Kyle
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Guerreiro, Tiago
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Guerreiro, João
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Hanson, Vicki L.
Proceedings of ACM CHI 2014 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
2014-04-26
v.1
p.1705-1708
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: Braille has paved its way into mobile touchscreen devices, providing faster
text input for blind people. This advantage comes at the cost of accuracy, as
chord typing over a flat surface has proven to be highly error prone. A
misplaced finger on the screen translates into a different or unrecognized
character. However, the chord itself gathers information that can be leveraged
to improve input performance. We present B#, a novel correction system for
multitouch Braille input that uses chords as the atomic unit of information
rather than characters. Experimental results on data collected from 11 blind
people revealed that B# is effective in correcting errors at character-level,
thus providing opportunities for instant corrections of unrecognized chords;
and at word-level, where it outperforms a popular spellchecker by providing
correct suggestions for 72% of incorrect words (against 38%). We finish with
implications for designing chord-based correction system and avenues for future
work.
[12]
What's on your mind?: investigating recommendations for inclusive social
networking and older adults
Engaging older adults through technology
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Norval, Chris
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Arnott, John L.
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Proceedings of ACM CHI 2014 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
2014-04-26
v.1
p.3923-3932
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: Social networking sites (SNSs) are becoming increasingly popular as a method
for social interaction. While research has reported benefits associated with
components of SNS usage, a digital divide has emerged between younger and older
users. SNSs can be useful for communicating with family members and helping one
feel digitally included; however, there are a wide range of reasons why many
older adults choose not to use this kind of technology. We present a series of
user studies investigating the barriers and challenges that SNSs can present to
older users. These user studies led to the derivation of user recommendations
to mitigate these barriers. The recommendations were then evaluated within a
comparative evaluation which involved 25 older adults completing tasks on two
interface versions of a simulation SNS. We present the recommendations and the
methods of their creation and evaluation. Implications for developers of SNSs
are discussed.
[13]
I'd tap that!: providing real time feedback on roller derby skills
Works-in-progress
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Stewart, Craig D.
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Traitor, Penny
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Hanson, Vicki L.
Proceedings of ACM CHI 2014 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
2014-04-26
v.2
p.2221-2226
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: Modern roller derby is a predominately female driven full contact sport. A
relatively new and evolving sport, players are yet to benefit from recent
advances in wearable technologies. This paper reports on our initial
investigations into player attitudes towards the use of technology as a
training aid. Our survey results highlight broad support for the development of
a wearable training device. Over 300 participants identified the skills they
want help with improving and provided some initial feedback on the
appropriateness of feedback modalities and location of a wearable training
device. We end the paper by introducing our first interaction prototype,
TapTrain, that allows skaters to access feedback on their technique while
skating.
[14]
Assisting older adults in assessing the reliability of health-related
websites
Works-in-progress
/
Stewart, Craig D.
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
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Nind, Thomas J.
Proceedings of ACM CHI 2014 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
2014-04-26
v.2
p.2611-2616
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: In this work, we address the question of how older adults may integrate
information about the reliability of website information in their
health-related searches. In two experiments, we compared three visual
reliability indicator designs; an icon set, a simple graph and a textual list
combined with website preview. Our results suggest that older adults can
incorporate reliability indicators into their website judgments without
significantly increasing decision time. The design of the visual indicators,
however, significantly affects such ability.
[15]
Technology for Supporting Care Staff in Residential Homes
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Webster, Gemma
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Hanson, Vicki L.
ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing
2014-01
v.5
n.3
p.8
© Copyright 2014 ACM
Summary: Care staff, those who attend to the day-to-day needs of people in
residential facilities, represent an important segment of the health-care
provision of those entrusted to their care. The potential use of technology by
care staff has not been a focus of researcher attention. The work reported here
provides initial steps in addressing that gap, considering both the design
requirements for this population and presentation of early work on a software
system for use by care staff. We describe the development of a software tool
for use by care staff, called Portrait, and report two studies related to
factors affecting technology use by this population. The results of this
research are promising, with Portrait being very positively received by care
managers and care staff. Use of this software in a care home for over a month
indicated continued use, with care staff returning to the system throughout the
test period. The contributions of this research are the identification of
factors important in working with a care staff population, the introduction and
evaluation of a novel software tool for care staff in residential homes, and
the highlighting of potential benefits of technology in assisting care staff.
[16]
Accessibility Support for Older Adults with the ACCESS Framework
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Heron, Michael
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Hanson, Vicki L.
/
Ricketts, Ian W.
International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
2013-11-02
v.29
n.11
p.702-716
© Copyright 2013 Taylor and Francis
Summary: Equitable access to the digital economy is predicated on the usability of
the devices that are used to access electronic goods and services, with
computers being the primary mechanism for many users by which this is currently
done. For novice users with special interaction requirements, current
arrangements for enabling accessibility support are suboptimal. Older users in
particular require special consideration with regards to the design of software
support packages to ensure the burden of knowledge required to configure a
system is reasonable. This article describes the ACCESS Framework, a novel
open-source, plug-in enabled software framework designed to address some of the
issues around providing accessibility support on the desktop. The framework
employs a system through which corrections are successively adapted to an
individual user's preferences. Through empirical work with older adults, the
framework has been shown to provide an understandable, appropriate, and
effective way to enable accessibility support.
[17]
Augmenting braille input through multitouch feedback
Adjunct 4: posters
/
Nicolau, Hugo
/
Montague, Kyle
/
Guerreiro, João
/
Marques, Diogo
/
Guerreiro, Tiago
/
Stewart, Craig
/
Hanson, Vicki
Adjunct Proceedings of the 2013 ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and
Technology
2013-10-08
v.2
p.81-82
© Copyright 2013 ACM
Summary: Current touch interfaces lack the rich tactile feedback that allows blind
users to detect and correct errors. This is especially relevant for multitouch
interactions, such as Braille input. We propose HoliBraille, a system that
combines touch input and multi-point vibrotactile output on mobile devices. We
believe this technology can offer several benefits to blind users; namely,
convey feedback for complex multitouch gestures, improve input performance, and
support inconspicuous interactions. In this paper, we present the design of our
unique prototype, which allows users to receive multitouch localized
vibrotactile feedback. Preliminary results on perceptual discrimination show an
average of 100% and 82% accuracy for single-point and chord discrimination,
respectively. Finally, we discuss a text-entry application with rich tactile
feedback.
[18]
Wheels in motion: inertia sensing in roller derby
Adjunct 4: posters
/
Stewart, Craig
/
Traitor, Penny
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Adjunct Proceedings of the 2013 ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and
Technology
2013-10-08
v.2
p.101-102
© Copyright 2013 ACM
Summary: The recent resurgence of Roller Derby has seen the game progress to an elite
level with leagues becoming increasingly competitive and taking a more
structured and athletic approach to training. Leagues that the authors are
involved in have expressed a desire for an objective measure of basic skills
and a way to monitor improvements in performance especially amongst junior
skaters. This paper details the construction of an inertia-sensing platform
designed to be safe to wear by skaters. We have identified a skating manoeuvre,
the "crossover" that can be automatically detected using a simple filtering and
thresholding procedure. We also report on some initial results in automatically
detecting when a crossover occurs and provide details of our future work.
[19]
ACCESS: a technical framework for adaptive accessibility support
Adaptation
/
Heron, Michael
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
/
Ricketts, Ian W.
ACM SIGCHI 2013 Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems
2013-06-24
p.33-42
© Copyright 2013 ACM
Summary: In this paper we outline ACCESS -- an open source, cross-platform, plug-in
enabled software framework designed to provide a mapping between user needs and
system configuration. The framework inverts the responsibility for making
system configuration changes so that it lies with the computer rather than the
user. In turn, the responsibility for identifying when changes should be made
is delegated onto the plug-ins that have been incorporated into the framework.
User feedback is solicited by a simple reinforcement mechanic through which
individuals can like or dislike adaptations that are made. User interaction
adjusts the probabilities that plug-ins will be selected in future, and also
allows for plug-ins to adjust their own algorithms in line with user
preferences. Results of experimental testing are encouraging, and show strong
support for the perceived benefit, tractability and appropriateness of the
framework.
[20]
BESIDE: the built environment for social inclusion in the digital economy
Evaluation and design methods
/
McIntyre, Lesley
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Extended Abstracts of ACM CHI'13 Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems
2013-04-27
v.2
p.289-294
© Copyright 2013 ACM
Summary: We describe BESiDE, a multi-disciplinary research project that investigates
themes of ageing, wellbeing, and digital technologies within the context of
built environment design. Focused on initial reflections from contemporary
design practice we discuss that, design guidance; a lack of research 'tools' to
engage with users; an absent research culture; and missing elements of design
training, are factors preventing a designer's holistic engagement with the
experiences of older people and technologies within the built environment. We
also present the continuing work and methods planned for assessing the user
experience within older peoples' care environments.
[21]
Persuasive dialogue for older adults: promoting and encouraging social
interaction
Social computing
/
Vargheese, John Paul
/
Sripada, Somayajulu
/
Masthoff, Judith
/
Oren, Nir
/
Schofield, Patricia
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Extended Abstracts of ACM CHI'13 Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems
2013-04-27
v.2
p.877-882
© Copyright 2013 ACM
Summary: We describe a persuasive dialogue component for promoting and encouraging
social interaction for older adults. In order to identify effective persuasive
strategies we conducted an interview study with formal carers for older adults.
From the results of our study we have identified 6 persuasive strategies,
information requirements and developed a model using rules for assessing older
adult profiles and applying persuasive strategies.
[22]
Digital motherhood: how does technology help new mothers?
Papers: technologies for life 1
/
Gibson, Lorna
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Proceedings of ACM CHI 2013 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
2013-04-27
v.1
p.313-322
© Copyright 2013 ACM
Summary: New mothers can experience social exclusion, particularly during the early
weeks when infants are solely dependent on their mothers. We used ethnographic
methods to investigate whether technology plays a role in supporting new
mothers. Our research identified two core themes: (1) the need to improve
confidence as a mother; and (2) the need to be more than 'just' a mother. We
reflect on these findings both in terms of those interested in designing
applications and services for motherhood and also the wider CHI community.
[23]
Progress on Website Accessibility?
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
/
Richards, John T.
ACM Transactions on The Web
2013-03
v.7
n.1
p.2
© Copyright 2013 ACM
Summary: Over 100 top-traffic and government websites from the United States and
United Kingdom were examined for evidence of changes on accessibility
indicators over the 14-year period from 1999 to 2012, the longest period
studied to date. Automated analyses of WCAG 2.0 Level A Success Criteria found
high percentages of violations overall. Unlike more circumscribed studies,
however, these sites exhibited improvements over the years on a number of
accessibility indicators, with government sites being less likely than topsites
to have accessibility violations. Examination of the causes of success and
failure suggests that improving accessibility may be due, in part, to changes
in website technologies and coding practices rather than a focus on
accessibility per se.
[24]
iSCAN: a phoneme-based predictive communication aid for nonspeaking
individuals
Communication aids
/
Trinh, Ha
/
Waller, Annalu
/
Vertanen, Keith
/
Kristensson, Per Ola
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Fourteenth Annual ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Assistive Technologies
2012-10-22
p.57-64
© Copyright 2012 ACM
Summary: The high incidence of literacy deficits among people with severe speech
impairments (SSI) has been well documented. Without literacy skills, people
with SSI are unable to effectively use orthographic-based communication systems
to generate novel linguistic items in spontaneous conversation. To address this
problem, phoneme-based communication systems have been proposed which enable
users to create spoken output from phoneme sequences. In this paper, we
investigate whether prediction techniques can be employed to improve the
usability of such systems. We have developed iSCAN, a phoneme-based predictive
communication system, which offers phoneme prediction and phoneme-based word
prediction. A pilot study with 16 able-bodied participants showed that our
predictive methods led to a 108.4% increase in phoneme entry speed and a 79.0%
reduction in phoneme error rate. The benefits of the predictive methods were
also demonstrated in a case study with a cerebral palsied participant.
Moreover, results of a comparative evaluation conducted with the same
participant after 16 sessions using iSCAN indicated that our system
outperformed an orthographic-based predictive communication device that the
participant has used for over 4 years.
[25]
Web accessibility as a side effect
Accessibility at large
/
Richards, John T.
/
Montague, Kyle
/
Hanson, Vicki L.
Fourteenth Annual ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Assistive Technologies
2012-10-22
p.79-86
© Copyright 2012 ACM
Summary: This paper explores evidence for the conjecture that improvements in Web
accessibility have arisen, in part, as side effects of changes in Web
technology and associated shifts in the way Web pages are designed and coded.
Drawing on an earlier study of Web accessibility trends over the past 14 years,
it discusses several possible indirect contributors to improving accessibility
including the use of new browser capabilities to create more sophisticated page
layouts, a growing concern with improved page rank in search results, and a
shift toward cross-device content design. Understanding these examples may
inspire the creation of additional technologies with incidental accessibility
benefits.
